-we know how sayid comes to work for ben
-alex is dead (NOOO she was hot)
-jack is teh sick
-Ben has a Batcave in his house
-Ben [can] control the smoke monster
-THE SMOKE MONSTER FTW!!!!
-Keamy is still alive somehow? (preview)
-Ben going after Penny ->
-Ben vs Desmond will be epic
-Ben waking up in the desert in 2005 - somehow.
-Ben & Widmore convo was crazy good. how WAS it Widmore's island?

good golly miss molly

Amalthea

April 24th, 2008, 09:08 PM

My goodness me. What an episode! How is it they manage to answer questions with questions all the time? I loved it! I thought Claire was done for, but, not yet, according to Miles. Crazy good!

JayShadow

April 24th, 2008, 09:21 PM

i can't even think right now.

-Ben [can] control the smoke monster
-Keamy is still alive somehow? (preview)

I'm not sure he controls it since he told everyone they needed to stay away from the soldiers, but he can definitely release it.

Unfortunately from a preview clip:
Most of the soldiers survived, if not all of them. It kinda makes sense, though, because if the only commandos from the boat died in one episode there wouldn't really be a threat the rest of the season. Still... kinda disappointed in the smoke monster's productivity, even though it looked more badass then ever.

wormholejunkie

April 25th, 2008, 07:32 AM

-THE SMOKE MONSTER

-Ben waking up in the desert in 2005 - somehow.

he was "beamed" there

jenks

April 25th, 2008, 11:47 AM

The Shape Of Things To Come? I seriously ****ing hope not. At what point did the producers think it would be a good idea to turn Lost into a cheeseball show like 24? All those retarded action sequences canceled out almost all enjoyment I might otherwise have had from this episode. I mean, Sawyer flipping a bench to protect himself from guys with machine guns about 100 meters away, and then running along a white picket fence while a trail of bullet impacts followed him? Deary me, I'm really disappointed in the producers right now.

Morbo

April 25th, 2008, 03:06 PM

The Shape Of Things To Come? I seriously ****ing hope not. At what point did the producers think it would be a good idea to turn Lost into a cheeseball show like 24? All those retarded action sequences canceled out almost all enjoyment I might otherwise have had from this episode. I mean, Sawyer flipping a bench to protect himself from guys with machine guns about 100 meters away, and then running along a white picket fence while a trail of bullet impacts followed him? Deary me, I'm really disappointed in the producers right now.

Dear Jenks,

Check me out. I appear in TV shows all the time.

Sincerely,
Suspension of Disbelief

jenks

April 25th, 2008, 04:21 PM

Suspension of disbelief appears in shows all the time? You didn't think that through, did you? My complaints have nothing to do with suspension of disbelief, people get attacked by a giant black smoke monster for **** sake, what annoys me is Lost being randomly turn into a cheesy action show for no good reason. If they think it's 'cool', it's not. And even if it were, shame on them for trying to turn Lost into something it's not.

Morbo

April 25th, 2008, 04:41 PM

i don't think they were going for cheesy action show.

it was a part of the story. there are people there to kill other people. no mercy.

guns on full auto are pretty inaccurate, especially when you're trying to hit a moving target. flipping the table? you'd do it too. sawyer not getting hit once - ok, probably won't always happen, but it's part of the story. just roll with it.

SoulReaver

April 25th, 2008, 04:54 PM

i don't think they were going for cheesy action show.

it was a part of the story. there are people there to kill other people. no mercy.

guns on full auto are pretty inaccurate, especially when you're trying to hit a moving target. flipping the table? you'd do it too. sawyer not getting hit once - ok, probably won't always happen, but it's part of the story. just roll with it.action in such a show is simply out of place & unacceptable. especially in a survival story
they're supposed to be lost, disoriented. at most I expect them to err about like zombies - I mean lost souls - light the occasional campfire & maybe talk from time to time (moaning & wailing about how lost they are). instead they act (they even run at times !). this is Lost for frak's sake, even the sight of them running is just too much (not to mention bad guys - worse, bad guys with guns (loaded guns !!)) :(

Jumper_One

April 25th, 2008, 05:10 PM

woohoo cool ep :D the smoke monster's back, Claire almost dies and Ben's daughter...well she does die. what about Rousseau and Karl, are they also dead? so how many people did the smoke monster kill? six? because that would leave only 4 or 5 people on the boat. I liked how Jack used Bernard to decode the message, good thinking. hopefully we'll see more of those guys in the next eps. so this is how Sayid's come to work for Ben. I wonder if he's the one that'll kill Penelope. Desmond won't like this. wow can't wait to see the next ep

entil2001

April 25th, 2008, 05:19 PM

It was only a month-long hiatus, but it still felt like forever. Episodes like this are the reason why. This one had me from the teaser and didn't let go until the very last second. I have the feeling the rest of the season is going to be like this, and if so, I'm very, very glad the second half of the season was salvageable after the writers' strike!

Lost 4.9: The Shape of Things to Come (http://entil2001.com/series/lost/season4/lost4-9.html)

Overall, this episode started off the second half of the season on a massive high-note, setting the stage for the grueling conflict to come and shedding light on ongoing mysteries. There are some criticisms to be made along the way, but the story itself does much to make up for it. This was meant to be the season that changes everything, and it is living up to its name.

LoneStar1836

April 25th, 2008, 06:55 PM

woohoo cool ep :D the smoke monster's back, Claire almost dies and Ben's daughter...well she does die. what about Rousseau and Karl, are they also dead? so how many people did the smoke monster kill? six? because that would leave only 4 or 5 people on the boat. I liked how Jack used Bernard to decode the message, good thinking. hopefully we'll see more of those guys in the next eps. so this is how Sayid's come to work for Ben. I wonder if he's the one that'll kill Penelope. Desmond won't like this. wow can't wait to see the next epNah. I don't see Sayid ever agreeing to go after her unless you mean it will be Ben. He I can totally see wanting to pull the trigger himself. I don't see it ever happening though.

And yeah, I gotta kind of agree with jenks, the shooting at Sawyer was just laughable. When he was hiding behind that picket fence. lol! Eh whatever. I can live with it as I'm not too fussed about it but it sure was funny.

Nyarlathotep

April 26th, 2008, 01:43 AM

I think you'll find it was sarcasm :)

Great ep! COuld that be the most things to ever happen in 1 episode?? Loads of stuff going on, but never felt rushed... all the threads were fascinating... amazing...

Oh... and anyone notice steam coming off Ben when he woke in the desert?

Dusk

April 26th, 2008, 08:58 AM

Alright, alright. Quit yer b####### children and Jenks stop being such a stick in the mud. We are all now painfully aware of your dissatisfaction and contempt for the director's use of action sequences in the episode. Thank you and goodnight.

Moving right along, this episode is a shining example of the nail-biting thrills and complex story layering that we've all come to enjoy from the series. Better yet, we are treated once again to the brilliant dichotomy of Benjamin Linus - a man of such craft and focussed aggression whose humanity and emotional intelligence can spill forth in a moment. That moment being the untimely death of Alex, who I am quite upset about, given her place in the series.

Unleashing the smoke monster upon the island intruders was muchly awesome, I must say. And with a sprinkle of future Sayid, a dash of ill Jack, and a bed full of Widmore, I'd say all in all this baby is smokin'!

(BTW, as an aside, the scene with Ben and Widmore was actually filmed in London, due to actor Alan Dale being tied up with another project. I believe this marks the first location filming outside the US.)

Dusk

April 26th, 2008, 08:31 PM

Oh... and anyone notice steam coming off Ben when he woke in the desert?
Really? Nice touch. I did notice that there was an as yet unidentified DHARMA logo on Ben's jacket (or is it Mr Haliwax?) I wonder how precise the warp is? Ben wanted to get to Iraq but ended up in the Sahara. Also, fair enough getting off the Island, but how precisely does one reengage the warp? Perhaps there is a receptacle located somewhere else on Earth.

As always, intriguing.

kiwigater

April 26th, 2008, 08:31 PM

Please stop the bickering and personal attacks. Lost is such a different sort of show that different people are going to enjoy/dislike different aspects of it. Just becasue you dont agree with someone elses opinions doesn't give (general) you the right to slam them.

Keep it polite, or keep it off the forum.

ItsDan

April 28th, 2008, 08:10 PM

The different feel the show has due to the action sequences to me just helped reinforce the vastly different reason these new people want the island.

YodaMate

April 29th, 2008, 04:51 AM

Terrific indeed.

I suspect (given he's wearing 'Dr Halliwax's' uniform) that Ben has teleported from the Orchid station.

Ben as a villain is proving to be the most dangerous and sinister nerd on television. The true question of Ben's grip on reality has to be considered (it already reared its head in the Juliet episode) ; were/are there actually rules governing the interaction between Ben and Widmore ?

Or was Ben, just moments after writing off the lives of 'all' of his followers (claiming they would be willing to die for him, and by extension the island), too plain naive to think his daughter would be killed like the rest of them ?

The question turns on whether Widmore is actually DHARMA or not. Previously we were told that the Hanso group was still run by Alvar Hanso, albeit Alvar is a prisoner of Thomas Mittelwark. Of course, this doesn't preclude Charles Widmore pulling the strings in the background.

The barracks, until recently held by Ben, is supplied by DHARMA, as was the Swan Station (and thus the Losties too are supplied by DHARMA). Ben must have some kind of arrangement with DHARMA, unless somehow DHARMA is unaware that its personnel were purged by the Others many years ago, which seems very unlikely.

The interaction between Sayid and Ben plays out interestingly. In The Economist Sayid says that Ben used an event to recruit him. Here we see Sayid volunteering his services to Ben, Ben acts surprised but we see his smile as he walks away. Further in the future, Sayid has obviously realised that Ben played him in this episode, but the question is how much did Ben manipulate him ? Is the man Sayid killed even responsible for Nadia's death ? Could Ben have actually been behind it ?

Sayid thought Ben was still on the island, which further complicates the question of just how the Oceanic 6 escaped ; Sayid never considers Ben to have teleported, in the same episode Daniel confesses that the Freighters have no intention of rescuing them. So how the hell do they get off ?

Aerilon

May 1st, 2008, 09:53 AM

It has been said by you guys that you think Ben may control the 'Monster'. I don't believe this to be the case, at least, not as such. I think he can 'summon' it, but not control it.

If he can control the Monster, why would he have had everyone run for the woods (and away from the Monster) - If he could control it, he would have simply told it not to harm his new 'friends'. My second point on this, is that fence which the soilders got Alex to power down. That fence protects the villiage (from the Monster). Why would they need a fence if the Monster could be controlled?

I think it is also good that we now know how Sayid came to be working for Ben. Though if I saw correctly, there was a smile from Ben as he walked away, giving the indication that things have happened how he had hoped.

Also, in regards to Charles Whitmore: He said to Ben, that he can't kill him. Ironic that this was also said by Tom, when Micheal put a Gun to his head. Could it be that Charles was on the island at some point, and found his way off, and is now stuck in the same loop (so to speak), thus can't die?

Will also be interesting to find out if Desmond and Penelope are together yet, and whether Desmond will have anything to do with Ben going after Penelope, such as trying to stop him, or talking him around etc.

SoulReaver

May 2nd, 2008, 06:33 PM

Is the man Sayid killed even responsible for Nadia's death ? Could Ben have actually been behind it ? 1st thing that came to mind before I even saw that smirk on Ben's face as he walked off :cool:

Sayid himself said it himself : why would those mercs pick on his g/f ?

unluckynumber11

November 13th, 2008, 07:48 AM

The Shape Of Things To Come? I seriously ****ing hope not. At what point did the producers think it would be a good idea to turn Lost into a cheeseball show like 24? All those retarded action sequences canceled out almost all enjoyment I might otherwise have had from this episode. I mean, Sawyer flipping a bench to protect himself from guys with machine guns about 100 meters away, and then running along a white picket fence while a trail of bullet impacts followed him? Deary me, I'm really disappointed in the producers right now.

You know jenks this is one of my favorite episodes of Lost so I am absolutly thrilled that you can't stand it :P :D

lovelyindia

January 1st, 2009, 01:33 AM

Wow !!! it's a Great Episode and Great Show.
I Really Like This Episode.